


Day Six: We Are Family

by firstdegreefangirl



Series: Eddie Diaz Week 2020 [6]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Athena is a queen, Eddie Diaz Week, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Team Bonding, Team as Family, bobby wants a team photo, he gets ... exactly what he asked for actually, picture day, with some antics along the way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:55:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24834955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstdegreefangirl/pseuds/firstdegreefangirl
Summary: It's picture day at the 118. Which goes ... as well as anyone really should have expected it to
Series: Eddie Diaz Week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1789669
Comments: 7
Kudos: 113





	Day Six: We Are Family

**Author's Note:**

> BEFORE MIDNIGHT BY LIKE 10 MINUTES, HECK YES.

“OK, is everybody here?” Bobby rolls up onto his toes and wiggles his pointer finger as he counts to himself, moving his lips as he looks around the group of firefighters milling around outside the station.

Not that he really needs to count, Eddie thinks. There’s only eight people on the crew, counting the alternates who rotate in and out so everyone can have days off. 

“Everybody’s here, Bobby.” Athena sighs from her position behind the camera. “Just like they were last time you checked. Now can you all just line up in front of the trucks and take the damn picture?” 

Eddie stifles a laugh at the way Athena rolls her eyes when Bobby tries to argue with her, and follows everyone else into a single-file line. They’re far enough down the driveway for the firetruck and ambulance to show in the background, just the way Bobby had sketched out – yes, on a whiteboard and everything – when he’d pitched the idea to the team.

A team picture, he’d explained, would increase morale around the station, serve as a visual reminder that they’re all working together toward the same goal. And if they put it on display, then anyone who stops by the station will know the people who are protecting them when things go wrong. 

It had taken a decent amount of cajoling (and the promise of his famous pecan bars), but he’d finally convinced everyone to put on their dress uniforms and let the LA sun beat down on them for a photo. Athena and May are behind the camera, in charge of making sure that everyone looks their best. Bobby’s already told everyone how to line up – shortest on one end, tallest on the other – and they’d taken two hours to wash the trucks this morning, making sure everything is sparkling clean.

(Chimney had almost gotten himself saddled with a month of bathroom duty when he pointed out that the back of the truck isn’t even going to be in the picture, so there really wasn’t any reason to re-wax all the chrome parts until they reflected the sun.)

They line up, the shutter clicks twice, and when Athena steps back from the viewfinder, everyone relaxes. 

They’re done, the picture is taken. Not completely painless, but easy enough. 

Until May looks up, sets her coffee down and slides her sunglasses up to the top of her head.

“Really? That’s it? You’re only taking one photo? Bobby, you’re sure you don’t want something more creative?”

“Well …” Everyone freezes, the last flicker of hope that they might be able to go change back out of their dress uniforms fading right before their eyes. “I suppose it might be a good idea to have a few options.” 

That’s all the permission May needs to step forward and start arranging people. Eddie would be willing to put money down that she’s the one organizing her friends for pictures when they hang out, as easily as she seems to picture who would look best where. 

When she’s finished, nudging Athena out of the way so she can check her work through the camera’s lens, Bobby is standing between him and Buck, with an alternate on either side of them. Hen, Chimney and Tommy make up the front row, kneeling with their hands folded on their thighs.

May presses the shutter button, but looks up.

“Don’t get up. Chim, turn a little bit more toward Tommy. Bobby, relax. Shoulders don’t belong in your ears. Eddie … stop doing that thing with your face.”

“What?” He doesn’t think he’s doing a thing with his face. “I’m not doing a thing with my face.” 

“Yes, you are.” Chimney doesn’t even look up as he’s shuffling closer to Tommy.

“You’re not even looking!”

“I trust May.”

“Good,” she smirks at Chimney. “Now turn back out a smidge. You went too far.”

“Chimney Han, don’t you roll your eyes at my daughter.” Athena glares at him and Hen starts laughing. “Henrietta, you’re next. You think I forgot what you said after that merlot the other night?” 

Hen stops laughing, and Eddie tries to figure out what to do about his face while May leans back down to the viewfinder.

“Hang on, it’s all wrong.” She stands back up. “I can’t see the top of the truck.” 

Everyone groans when she picks the tripod up and starts walking backward. After a few feet, she sets it down, checks the angle again and repeats the process until she’s satisfied with the camera placement. 

“Better?” Bobby leans forward, like he’s trying to see the reflection in the glass of the lens.

“Better,” May confirms. “But you’re all too far away now. Stay just like you are, but forward a few feet.” 

Everyone shuffles forward, and Hen reaches around to swat Chimney on the back of the head when he starts whining about a piece of gravel digging into his knee.

“Hush, we don’t need any reasons to stay down here longer!”

Eddie feels time slow down as May leans forward over the camera and positions her finger on the shutter button. All at once, four things happen. 

Bobby rolls his eyes, opening his mouth to tell Hen and Chim to cut it out so May can take the picture. Buck rears back, sucks in two short breaths and sneezes so hard that Eddie’s first instinct is to fear for his health.

Tommy’s first instinct, on the other hand, is to reach back and make sure that nothing from Buck’s sneeze landed on his head, while he turns around to glare. Chimney starts laughing, and Eddie’s pretty sure he’s doing whatever face-thing May had told him to change.

Then the shutter clicks and May recoils to stare at the group in horror. She presses a couple of buttons, then waves Athena over to peer at the tiny screen with her. They’ve hardly looked at the image when Athena steps back and doubles over, laughing so hard that there are tears running down her face and she’s gasping for breath. 

She finally stands up, but her shoulders are still heaving when she wheezes out a reaction.

“Well, anyone who sees this picture is going to know exactly what kind of firefighters they’re getting when they call the 118: damned fools.”

Eddie is so taken aback by her response that he starts laughing too, and the whole moment seems to be infectious enough that everyone joins in. Before long, they’re all howling, leaning on each other and wiping their cheeks. 

None of them are paying attention, so nobody sees May lean into the camera again, nobody hears the shutter click.

But a few weeks later, when Bobby gets the frame hung up on the wall in the garage?

It’s a perfect representation of their team, exactly how they act when the camera isn’t turned on them. When Bobby hands 4x6 copies around to everyone (plus prints of the picture right before it, which Eddie honestly likes even more), Eddie mentally starts clearing room for it on the shelf in his living room, right next to Christopher’s latest school picture and a snapshot of the two of them with Buck at the arcade.

When he gets home that night and fishes a frame out of the hall closet, the picture fits in perfectly with the others: a tiny tribute to the most important people in his life: his son, his Buck and his team.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly this whole thing is based on my own attempts to take a decent large group photo. Because this is exactly how it goes, every time.


End file.
